In 1972 Joyce Maynard an undergraduate at Yale wrote an article for the New York Times Magazine called 'An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back on Life'. Among the hundreds of letters she received as a result one expressed deep affection for her writing and concern at the exploitation that she might be subjected to. The writer was J.D. Salinger author of Catcher in the Rye and famous recluse.

Their correspondence led first to friendship and then to love and after a few months she dropped out of college to live with him. In spite of the thirty-five year difference in their ages she believed they would be together always - but after a year he sent her away.

Courageous beautifully written and affecting this book is destined to become a classic memoir of a modern woman's life.